Via sacra : almanah (Via sacra : Almanac)

  • 1,300€
  • Product Code:57
  • Availability:In Stock

Near Fine condition; Cover bottom and fore-edge show some fraying, restored minor missed piece of bottom corner of front cover, occasional foxing spots on the cover, mainly to the edges; internally few minor chips to the upper rig..

Tags: rare books, first edition books, Russian avant-garde, constructivism, cubism, futurism

Near Fine condition; Cover bottom and fore-edge show some fraying, restored minor missed piece of bottom corner of front cover, occasional foxing spots on the cover, mainly to the edges; internally few minor chips to the upper right corner of the title, very few occasional foxing spots thoughout.


Book’s original Art Nouveau wreppers design and spine decoration by Estonian Pallas school artist Eduard Ahas (1901-1944). After Russian poet Severyanin's permanent settlement in Estonia in 1918 circle of admired local poets, who belonged to a group of Russian literary figures “Cancers out of water” in Tartu, was drawn around him. Among them was leftist Avant-Garde author Ivan Belyaev (1893-1927), translator and Russian linguist Boriss Pravdin (1887-1960), writer and mediator of Russian literature and culture Valmar Adams (1899-1993). Together with them Severyanin participated in almanac “Via sacra” (Latin “The Sacred Way”), published in 1922. The almanac was, in fact, a volume of lyrical Russian verses with strong influence of Futurism and Severyanin's poetry. Severyanin contributed three satirical dramas to it with a strong ego-futurist orientation. Given Adams' (whose name appeared on the cover of the almanac as Vladimir Adams-Aleksandrovskij) interest in Russian literature in that period, his primary poetic influences showed futurism, bold egocentrism and desire to shock an audience. Pravdin opened his part of the almanac with the poem “Igor Severyanin” appearing as a disciple and follower of Severyanin. His other included verses show influence of imaginism. Belyaev with his poems  introduced expressionist avant-garde trends, somewhere leftist. Current almanac was a kind of specific attempt to create a particular little  world of the local Tartu multinational culture, integrated into the colorful world of Russian avant-garde poetry of the 1920s. 

Title Via sacra : almanah (Via sacra : Almanac)
Author Igor Severyanin, Vladimir Adams-Aleksandrovski, Ivan Belyaev, Boriss Pravdin
Artist Eduard Ahas
Publisher Jurjev-Tartu
Published year 1922
Country Estonia
Edition 1st edition
Binding Soft cover
Octavo 19 x 23 cm
Weight 0.200 kg
No. of pages Wrappers, 92 pp
Language Russian